


could get used to this, so i keep you near (you’re so cool)

by bruisingknees



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Canon Trans Character, Cats, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 05:34:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18794020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruisingknees/pseuds/bruisingknees
Summary: Matteo and the cat have a mutual feeling of I’d-rather-be-with-David.





	could get used to this, so i keep you near (you’re so cool)

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write some domestic fluff featuring a cat. Can you tell I'm really into homemaker Matteo? 
> 
> Title from the song You're So Cool by Balcony (ft. Liv Dawson) - in honor of Matteo's love confession from Friday <3

Matteo and the cat have a mutual feeling of I’d-rather-be-with-David going on. 

Matteo is sure they just begrudgingly accept each other because they both orbit around David, and thus also have to make room for one another. 

That being said, it’s really typical how much of the _actual taking care of the pet_ falls on Matteo’s shoulders. 

\---

Matteo’s alarm clock goes off first. It used to be that Matteo was able to shut off his alarm, roll over and cuddle up to David for another five or ten minutes. Getting up early almost every day for a shift at a job where he has to get coffee and donuts for people for hours on end isn’t exactly something he saw himself doing at eighteen. Those quiet moments with David before the start of every day were something Matteo really cherished. 

Now though, he has to shut off the alarm and make sure he’s out of their bedroom in under two minutes or the cat throws a truly impressive hissy fit. Matteo can’t be sure, but he thinks she might camp outside of their door in the night just to listen for Matteo’s alarm. She’s always just _there_ to start meowing and will even resort to scratching at the door to get Matteo’s attention. 

Of course, this doesn’t just serve to annoy Matteo, but it also wakes up David and the other roommates, who only allowed them to keep the cat if it didn’t cause any trouble. 

Apparently waking everyone up before 7:00 A.M. constitutes as trouble.

Therefor Matteo’s mornings now go like this: he shuts off the alarm, shoots a longing glance back at David (who’s still buried under the duvet, looking warm and adorable and _inviting_ ) and gets out the door. 

Even going as fast as he can, she still meows when she sees him. Matteo is quick to close the door back behind himself and shush her though. “Quiet, it’s morning time.” He whispers at her. 

She looks up at her with her big eyes and meows again. 

“Yeah, yeah, come on.” 

So he goes to the kitchen first, where he grabs her bowl and fills it with food. She starts scarfing it down before Matteo’s even completely set it down. She always acts like she’s never seen food before in her life. Considering David found her wandering around outside, that might not be far from the truth. 

It started with David feeding her on the street sometimes. She’d been skulking around outside their apartment for a little while by then. She was not quite scared of people, but definitely still a little wary. Hans actually noticed her around first, but David was the only one who could get close to her. Soon he was spending time every evening trying to coax her out to give her a little food. 

Two weeks later a terrible storm hit Berlin and David took her in indefinitely. That was three months ago. 

While she’s eating, Matteo gives her some fresh water as well. When that's keeping her busy, Matteo finally gets to go to the bathroom. Matteo uses the toilet, washes his face and puts on his hideous work uniform. Next, he heads back to the hallway where he cleans out the cat’s litter box before washing his hands thoroughly and fixing his own breakfast. 

He usually just has some cereal while checking his phone for messages or playing some games. By then the cat’s usually done with her own food but will stand by his feet looking up at him, probably wanting more. 

She doesn’t get any more food, so she usually ends up glaring at him. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m the worst.” He tells her. 

After Matteo’s brushed his teeth and gathered all his stuff from around the apartment, the cat following him from the bathroom to the living room, and back to the bathroom, it’s time for Matteo to wake up David. 

Matteo opens the curtains halfway and goes over to wake up David with a kiss and a cuddle. That’s how he used to do it at least. Nowadays the cat is on David before Matteo’s finished with the curtains. She kneads her little paws in David’s side and headbutts him in the face until he wakes up. 

“Morning, love,” David tells the cat - and seriously? 

“Morning, sweetheart,” Matteo answers sarcastically. 

“Oh, hi. Morning.” David reaches out for Matteo – who has to come to him, cause there’s a cat all over David so he's stuck for the time being. Matteo dutifully goes over to collect a morning kiss that the cat only barely allows. 

“You taste all minty,” David mumbles into his lips. 

“You want toast for breakfast?” Matteo asks, running his hands through David’s bed head. 

“Yes, please.” 

And so Matteo goes and makes David breakfast. He pops the bread into the toaster and gets out a plate and the chocolate spread for him. David usually emerges about ten minutes later, dressed and carrying the cat. 

If Matteo’s lucky he’ll get a quick cuddle before he leaves, but usually David’s got a needy pet on his lap, demanding constant pettings. Matteo gets it. He just wishes it was him in David's lap instead. 

\---

His one saving grace is that she doesn’t get to sleep in their room with them at night. 

She hid under a closet in their living room for the first two weeks she was invited in. She only came out at night to eat and use her litter box, and to curl pathetically on David’s lap when he spent at least twenty minutes in front of the closet, trying to coax her from under it. 

Once she started braving out from under it on her own a little more, and really made the apartment her home, Matteo had been seriously worried David would want them to start sleeping with the bedroom door open, or that she’d be allowed to sleep in bed with them. 

She absolutely loves their bed, is the thing. She’s curled up there more often than not, sleeping or just lounging around, chilling out under the covers. One of her favorite pastimes is watching Matteo from the bed, in that judgey way she has, when he’s trying to study for some online classes he’s taking. 

David picks her up from her comfortable slumber and takes her out of their bedroom every evening though, before closing the door behind him – locking it too if he’s feeling amorous. 

“I don’t want her to be there when we have sex,” David had told him once, when they were lying in bed. “I don’t think I’d be able to focus if she was just staring at us.” 

“She probably wouldn’t allow it, to be honest,” Matteo had answered. “Do you see how she looks at me when I touch you? She’ll be okay chilling for hours, but as soon as I give you a hug she has to get up and insert herself between us, like the world’s smallest, hairiest cockblock.” 

David had laughed and Matteo had wondered if that was ever gonna stop making his belly flip. 

“Your cat has issues,” Matteo had told him. 

“ _Our_ cat.”

“Your cat.”

“You love her,” David had assured Matteo. Matteo had just rolled his eyes and told David to go to sleep. 

\---

Matteo’s shifts usually end in the early afternoon, so when he gets back to the flat everyone else is usually at work or in school. More often than not, the cat will be waiting for him by the door. 

Matteo is halfway convinced she knows how to read time. She always just seems to know when he’ll get home. The times when he’s gotten home earlier or later cause something came up at work, or he’s had to run some errands, she wasn’t at the door. When that happens she’s usually sleeping on his bed, or somewhere else around the flat. 

But when he gets home when he’s supposed to, she's there to greet him. Loudly. 

Greeting is a nice word for it at least. Every time she meows at him like that, Matteo swears she sounds angry. Matteo’s slowly starting to realize that maybe that’s just how she is though. Not that she seems to be that loud and insistent with any of the other humans sharing the flat with her, but fine. 

“How’s your day been then?” Matteo asks her as he gets out of his uniform jacket. “Keeping busy?” 

She meows again, getting up from her perch on the chair in the hallway. 

“Yeah? Loads of sleeping in the sun, I bet.” He tells her. He reaches out to pet her and she definitely feels sun-warm. “Oh yeah, a great morning for Misty.” He says. 

Oh yeah, the cat’s name is Misty. 

Hans kind of named her on accident. He’d said “It’s Misty outside,” and David’s one-track-cat-mind had thought he’d meant the cat rather than the fog. 

It’s a dumb name, but then again she’s a pretty dumb cat, so it works. 

Matteo usually plays with her every day. He’ll throw her toy for her to chase, and it goes well a couple of times, but then at some point she just completely loses sight of it and spends minutes searching until Matteo has to heave himself out of the couch with a sigh to grab it for her. 

“It was right there, you idiot,” Matteo tells her. “Pay attention.” 

She never pays attention. 

She loses interest in playtime pretty quickly, so Matteo puts her toys away again. 

If he doesn’t they’ll be woken up in the middle of the night by her running around the apartment with a stray toy mouse. Before Matteo solved the problem by putting all her toys away after playtime, Mia had threatened to put Misty up for adoption in an animal shelter more than once (obviously never in front of David). Matteo’s seen the way she pets the cat, and coos at her though. Her Instagram is also almost as bad as David’s lately – cat pictures everywhere. So while they’re empty threats, Matteo still doesn’t want to mess with his roommate’s sleep schedule too much. 

He can’t be kicked to the curb with a boyfriend and a cat he has to worry about. 

\---

When David comes home from school or work, Misty forgets all about Matteo again. 

She’s so excited to see David it’s borderline embarrassing for her. David’s almost just as happy to see her, which is just annoying. 

“Oh, there’s my girl,” David coos, bending down to pick her up and carry her around while he puts away his stuff. 

David is the only one who’s allowed to pick her up. Anyone else tries and they get scratched for their trouble. Mia’s lost more than one sweater to Misty's nails that way, and Hans got a nasty scratch to the arm once. Matteo’s never even tried. He doesn’t doubt people would take one look at her big eyes and forgive her for ‘accidentally’ murdering him. 

Once the cat’s been happily carried around all over the apartment, David comes to their room to say hi to Matteo. “Hi.” 

“Lost your shadow?” Matteo asks, shivering a little from the kisses David is peppering along his neck. 

“I had to grab some books from the library,” David mumbles into his skin, “So now she’s all over the bag I brought home.”

“Oh, she loves bags alright,” Matteo agrees. 

“Uhu,” David’s fingers are making their way inside Matteo’s shirt now. 

“She’s a proper dumbass.” 

“Wanna close the bedroom door while she’s still distracted in the living room?” David asks. He’s biting softly at Matteo’s neck now, and Matteo’s brain shortcircuits momentarily. 

“Whu?”

“Door? Lock?” David repeats. “Bed?” 

Yes, bed. 

By the time they’re both naked and under the covers, Matteo can hear tiny scratches at their door. If they ignore her, she usually quiets down quickly enough though. Luckily David seems a little too preoccupied with kissing his way down Matteo’s stomach to notice her. 

When they close her out like this during the day, she’ll wait outside their room until they’re done. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so goddamn obvious what they were doing to their roommates. 

 

“She's like the saddest little guard cat," Mia tells Jonas and Hanna one day when they're over for dinner.

"What do you mean, sad?" Matteo asks.

It’s just the four of them as Hans is out on a date, Linn is in her room, and David is having dinner with Laura. Matteo made sure to make enough for six though, so David and he can have leftovers tomorrow. 

"’Cause she waits outside of your room, but instead of guarding you from burglars or whatever she's just waiting for you to stop having sex." 

Matteo almost chokes on a meatball.

Hanna puts down her fork and turns to give Mia her full attention: "Excuse me, what?"

"I swear, it happened again this afternoon!" Mia says. "I got home from class and she was outside their room, staring at the door. It was so sad."

"What are you talking about? I was calling my mom." Matteo tries, desperately. 

"Sure, that’s what you guys looked like when you left your room almost an hour later,” Mia says. “Like you were on the phone with your mom.” 

Jonas is focussing so hard on his pasta, at first Matteo thinks he’s being a good friend by not embarrassing him any further. That is until he can see Jonas’ shoulders shake from how he’s trying not to laugh out loud. 

“It’s okay, Matteo.” Mia waves her fork at him, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s just a bit sad for Misty, is all.” 

“Poor Misty,” Jonas manages to choke out. 

“What are we supposed to do?” Matteo hisses at him, “Have her be in the room with us? Surely that’d be weirder.” 

While his friends are laughing at him and siding with the goddamn cat, Misty is sitting on the windowsill, glaring him down. She 100% looks like she can understand everything they’re saying, and is agreeing with Mia.

 

That night in bed, Matteo tells David about his dinner date from hell. 

“Well, we can’t have her in here, watching,” David says. 

“That’s what I told them,” Matteo groans. 

“She does make it pretty obvious when we’re having sex,” David agrees. He suddenly has to laugh and asks: “Hey, did I ever tell you that Hans cornered me once, after I came out of your room to get some water or something?”

“No,” Matteo’s pretty sure he would’ve remembered that. 

“We’d only been together for a couple of weeks, and we’d just had sex and I went to grab us some bottles of water. Hans was in the kitchen and he gave me this proud dad look and was all _‘David, I just want you to know that I’m so happy for you guys.’_ ” Matteo would be more impressed by David’s impression of Hans if he wasn’t so affronted. “It was so awkward. I think he said that if we ever need anything we could come to him. I think he was talking about lube or condoms. I hope.” 

“Oh my god,” Matteo whispers. 

“Yeah, that’s why you get the water now.” 

They burst out laughing at the same time. They try shushing each other, cause if they’re too loud, like when they’re watching a movie or talking, and the cat’s outside the door she’ll take that to mean that it’s not sleepy time yet and she should scratch at their door until they let her in. 

Matteo puts his face in David’s shoulder, trying to still his giggling, but the way he can actually feel David vibrating in amusement is too contagious. 

“Fucking roommates,” David whispers. 

“Fucking cat,” Matteo whispers back. 

“Don’t put this on her,” David says, running his hands gently over Matteo’s face. 

"I do what I want," Matteo says and David shuts him up with a kiss. 

\---

David’s putting away groceries in the kitchen when Matteo gets back from Jonas' place.

"What’s this?” Matteo asks. 

“Cat food, obviously,” David says, holding it up for Matteo to see. “It was on sale too.” 

“She doesn’t eat this,” Matteo says slowly. 

“What? This is the brand.” David says, but he doesn’t sound so sure anymore. 

“Yeah, it’s the right brand but this is chicken. She doesn’t eat chicken.”

“What do you mean she doesn’t eat chicken? Like for ethical reasons?”

“No, like in I don’t know what they put in the chicken flavored food but she hates it. She will not eat it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” David says, staring at the package like it holds more answers than Matteo can give him. “She’s a cat, she’ll eat what we give her.”

“Hah, good luck,” Matteo says, taking the cat food from David and putting it on the table to return to the store tomorrow.

“Since when doesn’t she eat chicken?” David asks again. 

“Since always. I tried to give it to her once and she just doesn’t want it.”

It’s a little insulting that David opens the bag and fills Misty’s bowl with the stuff because A. What the fuck? Matteo is the one who feeds the damn cat, he knows what she will and will not eat and B. This isn’t her usual feeding time and now David’s gonna mess up her schedule and she’ll be whining at Matteo to be fed every day at this time. 

And hey, what do you know? Misty doesn’t eat the food anyway. 

Matteo isn’t ashamed to admit he sulks the rest of the evening. 

They have a row about it just before bed, and it’s absolutely ridiculous and stupid. Matteo uses his shower time to cool down, and when he shuffles back into their room Misty’s curled up on David’s belly while he’s reading a book. 

It’s cute, is what it is. That cat loves David so much, and David loves her so much, and it’s all Matteo really wants for David. Unconditional love from a menace who only eats tuna and beef, but not chicken. 

Matteo grabs his phone and snaps a couple of pictures. 

“You don’t hate me anymore then?” David asks. 

“Never, ever hate you,” Matteo promises, crawling on the bed to lay his head down on David’s shoulder. He falls asleep there, listening to Misty purr. 

When he wakes up the next morning he sees that David set his alarm for him and got him under the covers. 

\---

Matteo, Jonas, Abdi, and Carlos are going away on a guys trip to a cabin. They’re gonna try to figure out how to fish and go hiking. They’re bringing lots of beer, weed and video games though. So realistically it’s gonna be more about them getting wasted and fucking around playing games than any of the outdoorsy things they've been saying they're gonna do. It’s gonna be pretty epic. 

Or at least it will be once Matteo can stop thinking of things he needs to remind David to do. 

“She eats at 7:00 and then again right before bed,” he says for probably the fifth time. 

They’re taking Abdi’s mom’s car and David’s waving them goodbye from Abdi’s driveway. 

“So you’ve said,” David smiles. “Please get in the car.”

“And don’t forget to check behind the couch from time to time to see if she’s thrown up there cause it will start to smell after a while.”

“This is the least romantic goodbye I’ve ever had to witness,” Matteo hears Jonas mutter from the passenger side. “Watching Carlos say goodbye to his mother was more romantic than this.”

“Matteo, I know,” David says, stepping in for another goodbye kiss. 

Matteo gives him a hug and whispers, “I love you, I’m gonna miss you so much.” 

“You’re gonna have so much fun and you’ll be back on Sunday.” David’s holding him pretty tightly in return though, so Matteo’s sure David’s gonna miss him as well. “Now go, I love you.”

Matteo sends David a picture of the gas station they stop at an hour into the drive, and another one from the car another 40 minutes later. He sends David a picture of the cabin and then one of himself in his bed for the next three nights with the caption _‘there was more than enough room for you in this bed as well.’_

David sends him a picture back of him and the cat in their bed. The message says. _‘We miss you already.’_

 

Hans texts Matteo around noon on Saturday. _‘How’s it going there, darling? We all miss you very much, but nobody more than little Misty.’_

Matteo laughs at the thought of the cat missing him. _‘Everything’s great, not caught any fish yet but we saved a hedgehog yesterday.’_ And then he sends: _‘And you mean the cat’s celebrating my absence by bumping all my pictures from the cabinets, right?’_

_‘No, I’m serious.’_ Hans replies. _‘She’s not eating, she’s so depressed.’_

Matteo calls David. 

“The cat’s not eating?” 

“Uhm. Hello, babe. Nice to hear your voice too. Can’t wait to see you again.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Matteo says. “Hi.”

“Hi.” David sounds amused enough that Matteo doesn't get any more worried than he already was, at least. 

“Cat’s not eating?” He asks again while Abdi comes into the kitchen where Matteo was having a very late breakfast when Hans texted him. 

“Who told you that?” David asks. 

“Hans texted me.” 

“Misty’s sick?” Abdi asks, looking worried. 

Matteo ignores him. 

“She’s eating,” David reassures him, “Just, not as enthusiastically?” 

“That sounds like she needs to go to the vet,” Matteo says. “Can you take a bus or a taxi? The carrier’s in the closet somewhere.”

“Matteo, she’s fine. She’s not sick and she doesn’t need to go to the vet. She just misses you.”

Matteo snorts, “Yeah, cause that’s more believable than her being sick.”

“You’ve never been gone before. You’re usually always the one to do everything for her so of course she’s gonna miss you. She’s fine, you’ll see for yourself tomorrow. Hans shouldn't have texted you that.”

“If she’s not better when I get back tomorrow we’re taking her to the emergency services right then and there.”

“Sure, yes. If that’ll make you stop worrying.” David says gently. 

“It will.” Matteo lies. 

“Fine.”

Matteo sighs. “I love you, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Why is having a pet so stressful? 

\---

They get home around 8 PM on Sunday and Abdi drops Matteo off first. All four boys come upstairs to check on the cat. 

David’s holding her, and she’s regarding all four of them with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

“She looks normal,” Jonas says. 

“She looks a bit pissed off,” Carlos admits, “But she always looks pissed off when Matteo is around.”

“I’ve missed you, you little furball,” Abdi says, gently petting her head. 

“Has everyone been reassured?” David asks. 

They all nod, except for Matteo. 

“Matteo?” David asks. 

“I guess.” He’s got to admit that she does look normal.

The boys leave and Matteo takes his time unpacking his bag before caving and feeding Misty early that evening. She’s at his side before Matteo’s even put the bowl down, like always, but before she starts eating her food she kind of rubs against Matteo’s leg in the most blatant display of affection she’s ever shown him. 

She starts eating right after though, not really wanting to acknowledge the moment they just shared, probably. 

Matteo watches her eat the whole plate. After she’s done, she prances over to the windowsill to start her neighborhood watch routine. 

“Reassured now?” David asks from where he’s been doing some research for school at the kitchen table. 

Matteo wants to ask if David saw how the cat cuddled up against his leg, but he also kind of wants to keep their little moment to himself. “Yeah.” 

“Are you ready to give me some attention then, now?” David asks cheekily. 

“Oh what, are you jealous?” Matteo asks, coming to stand behind David’s chair to lean down to give him a cuddle. 

“I’m not jealous,” David says, “I’m just happy you’re done pretending you don’t love our cat.”

“Your cat.”

“ _Our_ cat.”

“I missed you,” Matteo says into David’s neck. 

 

They leave David’s school work on the kitchen table, Misty on the windowsill, and the door to their bedroom locked.

**Author's Note:**

> Actual footage of Matteo and Misty: https://twitter.com/chadjamian/status/1070800478156423169 (thanks, @emeraldandblue for the link!!)


End file.
